Noraa Body Love is all about crafting luxurious skincare products that celebrate and nourish your skin. Founded in 2021, my journey began as I searched for a solution to get rid of my adult acne and oily skin. After trying countless products that either didn’t work or made things worse, I started researching and experimenting with soap making at home. The results were life-changing, and what began as a simple experiment quickly evolved into a passion, leading to the launch of Noraa Body Love. The name “Noraa” is a heartfelt dedication to my stepfather, Aaron, who passed away in 2020 from complications of early-onset dementia. Honoring him in this way keeps his memory alive in every product I create.
At Noraa Body Love, each product is made with the utmost care and attention to detail. I carefully select every ingredient, focusing on quality, simplicity, and skin-loving benefits. From wine-infused soaps in collaboration with local wineries to soothing turmeric and shea butter bars, there’s a product for every skin type and preference. You can find me at various local events and festivals in the Lehigh Valley area, where I love connecting with customers and sharing the Noraa Body Love experience. I also teach soap making classes at various venues in the area for all ages.
Being part of the Lehigh Valley community is at the heart of what I do. It’s a privilege to contribute to local events and to offer products that not only care for your skin but also support a small, Black woman-owned, business. Whether you’re looking for a thoughtful gift or a little self-care treat, I hope Noraa Body Love brings a touch of everyday luxury into your life.
I’m Nina Boodhansingh, I am an abstract painter and collage artist, as well as the Co-owner, Director, and Curator of Midnight Galley.
My paintings can be described as ethereal. Inspired by nature, skyscapes, landscapes, microscopic images, and the cosmos, each painting represents familiar elements within an abstract world. The surface of the work has a tangible texture built with paint, various gel mediums, sand, and/or metal leaf. Modeling layers, dimensions, and illusions of space in the paintings, the finished pieces suggest parallel, yet distant, worlds. Evoking a dream-like quality, there is a mood of calmness in each piece. I also works with collage, mixed media, and dabble in drawing. Some of my work reflects on living with anxiety, depression, ADHD, trichotillomania, and endometriosis.
Shelley Maley, Founder of Dreamcatcher Career Coaching, LLC
Career Coach & Podcast Host
Macungie, PA
Shelley Maley, PHR, GCDF is the founder of Dreamcatcher Career Coaching, LLC. She launched her own coaching practice after working as a career coach in higher ed for 8 years. Recognized by Influence Digest as one of the Top Coaches in Philadelphia in 2023, Shelley has both HR and career coaching credentials and has been assisting recent college graduates, young professionals, and burned-out professionals with resumes, interview coaching, job search strategy, career confusion, and all other things career-related.
With an extensive background in human resources and management in hospitality, healthcare, and higher education, her coaching specialty is helping recent college graduates and young adults to cultivate career confidence, clarity, and connections in order to launch fulfilling careers.
Shelley is also the host of a new podcast called “Young Professionals Career Catalyst”, available on Apple, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.
Flight Risk Game LLC is a game publishing company established in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, producing travel-themed game products. We create games about travel for friends, colleagues, and strangers!
✈️ Finalist at the StartUp Lehigh Valley 2023 Pitch Competition
✈️ Recipient of the Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Grant
Flight Risk™ is the flagship product, a tabletop party game that tests travel compatibility. 2-6 Players, ages 17+ will immerse themselves in 250 common travel scenarios, unforeseen circumstances, and exotic destinations! Flight Risk is available on www.flightriskgame.com.
Aunt Wendy’s Kiffles creates exquisite, lovingly crafted and hand-rolled Hungarian kiffles, as well as a great variety of other pastries, cookies and desserts. With unwavering dedication to the art and joy of baking, we offer catering and wholesale opportunities, as well as a storefront at:
I have been creating jewelry since 2014—a combination self-taught and formal metalsmith training. Each new wrap or earring design shows me something new, which is the beauty and privilege of creating. Metalsmithing continues to grow me as an artist with each light of the torch and strike of the hammer. I am often inspired by the wonderful souls who enjoy my jewelry and the stories behind each piece.
My designs are a Bohemian-Zen take on ancient European and African jewelry, reflecting my own familial ethnicities. Earrings and rings are hand-forged of brass, sterling, bronze, copper and natural stones. Wraps (an adaptive combination of necklace and bracelet) use handmade beads and stones, from many different countries, with varying levels of intricacy. Each wrap allows the wearer to style it as a relaxed choker, necklace, or bracelet stack, using an American made magnet and heavy-duty stringing wire. This combination creates a unique piece of jewelry allowing the wearer to express their style at the moment, while remaining grounded and without pretense.
Charlene Williams is a graduate of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Education, minor in Psychology. Through her life she has been a teacher, extra-curricular director, international sales rep and data manager. Currently, she is an author and part-time photographer.
When she is not writing or taking pictures, she can be found reading, gardening, hiking, looming and attending as many local theater productions as she can. She plans to continue doing what she loves, and has already begun planning and writing for her next book.
Mosaic Artist (Handmade Mosaic Art & Home Decor)
Northampton, PA
Welcome to Valley Mosaics — The Lehigh Valley’s place for handmade mosaic art, and tiled home decor. I create and design beautiful mosaics for you for your home and to give as lovely gifts. I am happy to create custom orders. Please message me to work with you on the design and colors for your new piece. Thank you for visiting my shop!
I have called the Lehigh Valley my home for 32 years. Seven years ago I lost the love of my life, my husband. As part of my healing process and to discover who I was without him, I started taking various classes. I fell in love with handmade mosaics. I retired last year from my full time job and started Valley Mosaics.
Creating beautiful and fun items for you to enjoy gives me pleasure. Lazy Susans are a fan favorite. Handmade mosaic checkerboards make a great coffee table conversation piece. Tiled trivets, coasters, charcuterie boards, trays, mirrors, bowls, and wall art are a few more items in my inventory.
**Valley Mosaics presents her handmade mosaic art and home decor at festivals and shows around the Lehigh Valley. They make wonderful gifts and statement pieces for the home! See her contact information below, as well as her Etsy store to learn how to order and request custom pieces.
It’s FARMERS MARKET SEASON! These great markets all have more than amazing vegetables and fruits. They are vibrant representations of the many products the Lehigh Valley has to offer.
We have included this map on our Shop-in-Person page as well.
Shelley Maley, professional career coach, and podcaster
At Made in the Lehigh Valley, we spend a lot of time thinking about maker businesses. It is an incredibly multifaceted, multicultural and complicated subset of industries!
We are often interested to find out how people got into their maker businesses to begin with. Most of the smaller maker brands have started as sole proprieterships—self-employed people looking to either make side income or carry themselves and their families on their own terms and schedules.
Other times, maker businesses start as part of a transition. “I used to be a nurse, but __________, and I just didn’t feel like my career was going in the right direction. So I realized I loved making _________, and decided to make that my business instead.” Or “I started out as an elementary teacher, but then I had kids, and I needed a way to make income from home, so I started making ________ and selling them.”
As part of this week’s blog, we thought it would be useful to speak to an expert on these transitions. Shelley Maley, PHR, GCDF, is the founder of a Lehigh Valley company called Dreamcatcher Career Coaching, which specializes in 1) helping people (young and old) identify fulfilling career paths, and 2) coaches them to achieve their goals.
Shelley is a prime example of successful transition from one career to the next. In fact, Shelley had experience with five careers in three different industries (including Human Resources) before she established her coaching practice. She navigated her career changes with her own innate talent and consequently became eager to help others with their own transitions.
Having children, needing a promotion, or experiencing health problems, aging parents, job burnout, hostile work environments– there are so many reasons why people need to open the doors to the next chapter of their career. Shelley helps her clients navigate all of these challenges and improve themselves in the process.
Shelley spoke to me at length about the different types of people she serves. About 50% of her clients are mid-career, and the other half are early career professionals who have just graduated from high school or college. Many are struggling with burnout, confidence, and/or mindset. Almost every client needs help with refining their interview skills, updating resumes, conducting effective job searches, and even finetuning soft skills like dining etiquette, communication, and professionalism.
Shelley explained that many of her clients are confused and feel “stuck in the muck”, oftentimes panicking about what to do next. For example, one of her clients approached her for help on her elevator pitch. They worked together on that and more—focusing on confidence-building and mindset. Through this consultation, her client was able to achieve a $20,000 increase in pay.
Dreamcatcher Career Coaching offers workshops for recent college graduates, etiquette workshops for universities, confidence workshops for women, and so much more.
In another exciting expansion of Shelley’s business path, she has also become a maker. She started her own podcast in February, called the Young Professionals Career Catalyst. To get started, she hired another Lehigh Valley podcaster for advice, purchased the proper software, and got to work. She drew on the support of her sisterhood, the Lehigh Valley Polka Dots, who meet several times a month to hang out, network, support and encourage one another. Shelley states unequivocally, the LV Polka Dots have changed her life and she is forever grateful for the friendships she has made there.
Her educational podcast is interview-format and features exciting guests, whose stories and advice highlight three very important realities: people evolve, careers change, and that’s OKAY.
I actually find it surprising how few “career readiness” programs even mention maker businesses. As a former teacher myself, I sat through many programs teaching kids about “their futures” that either pigeonholed them into certain jobs or sent them into industry to be minimum-wage employees.
As Shelley’s story indicates, career evolution and professional transitions are extremely normal. Makers who have their own businesses are extremely creative and entrepreneurial. They are resilient and hard-working. They are problem-solvers and strategists. Maker businesses can be the avenue to something better, or the bridge that helps soften the blow of a career in flux.
Thank you so much, Shelley, for your insights and conversation. We are new podcast subscribers!
